Column: Who will build wall between U.S., Mexico?

Ludicrous is as ludicrous does. Stupid is normally used instead of ludicrous. However, I do not want to be disrespectful to the president or the men and women who pass America’s laws in the House of Representatives and the Senate. I do respect the offices, if not always the decisions.

However, for the life of me I cannot follow the thinking behind passing legislation and getting the president to sign into law a bill authorizing construction of a 700-mile fence to close off the 2,000-mile U.S./Mexican border.

Fortunately, when President Bush signed the law, it did not include funding to pay the bill for it, which may total $10 billion. Maybe it will go away under its own farcical weight.

The wall is a lame attempt at immigration reform, whatever that means. There is no reforming immigration laws. It is a crisis issue that the best our leaders can do so far is authorize a wall that has been compared to the Berlin Wall and the Great of Wall of China, both now tourist attractions that kept no one in or out.

There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Since George Bush has been in office more than six million have been deported. This figure did not come with an explanation of whether those were 6 million individuals or it was the same 1 million paraded across the Mexican border six times.

The Labor Department said 57 percent of illegals are hired using forged documents to work. Immigration experts laugh at the percentage. They believe it is closer to 90 percent.

Most of the illegals in the United States are from Mexico. They keep coming, putting their lives in peril, because they can make eight times as much money in the United States as they can in Mexico. And jobs are readily available for them because Americans do not want the jobs illegals will accept.

I understand the arguments about cheap labor because it is illegal. Without illegals, wages would likely be higher and Americans would take the jobs. I also fully understand the need for homeland security. I support the efforts of the Bush Administration after 9/11. I am convinced it has made our nation safer and prevented more terrorist attacks. I want our borders protected from terrorists as much as anyone.

However, this is an immigration crisis, not a border security crisis. The complexity of it is enormous. It is so overwhelming it may never be solved adequately.

However, building a 700-mile long fence Mexican nationals will go over, around or under is more than absurd. Someone has called it a piece of the puzzle. When that puzzle is completed, it will be something to behold.

Some have suggested authorizing the wall was simply a political move by the president. That I could accept from a president who has a ranch in Crawford, Texas. Of all the people who would recognize the absurdity of a fence across a third of the U.S./Mexico border, it would seem to be Texan President Bush.

It is so laughable that Hispanic comedian George Lopez has joked: “Who do you think they’ll get to build the wall?” Illegals from Mexico, and they all will have Social Security numbers, most likely with similar numbers.